Space Castles Make Horrible Playgrounds
by Mikiri's Revenge
Summary: Keith wasn't sure how Shiro got deaged, nor how to deal with the fact that there was now two Shiros. Hunk blames the glowy alien cave Keith found the pair in. Now if only they could keep Shiro and Takashi happy, they might go back to normal; at least that's what Coran said.


"Well. This is going to be a problem." Keith said, staring at the strange sight before him. He and Hunk had been in such a rush when they'd evacuated the planet that Keith hadn't even realized that there were now two Shiros.

Hunk hovered over Keith's shoulder in the hangar, staring at the pair of Shiros curiously, "How did this even _happen_? Did the cave multiply him as well as shrink him?"

Keith tilted his head thoughtfully, "I don't think so. I thought I saw Shiro go into the cave, then a few minutes later I saw Shiro go into the cave again. I thought he'd come back out between times, but apparently, I was wrong." Keith shrugged, and squatted down to near eye level with the two Shiros who had been eyeing him and Hunk for the past few minutes. He took a few shuffling steps forward, watching carefully as one of the Shiros protectively edged in front of the other. Keith extended a hand slowly, "Hi, I'm Keith. This is Hunk. Do you remember me?"

The Shiro in front nodded slightly, while the Shiro hiding behind him shook his head. Keith glanced up at Hunk, who just shrugged back. Then he returned his gaze to the pair in front of him and dropped his hand to the floor with a sigh; hopefully this question would go well, "What're your names?"

"Shiro." replied the one in front.

"Takashi." murmured the one in back before burying his face into Shiro's shoulder.

Keith and Hunk shared a significant look again before Keith turned back to Shiro who was eyeing the pair suspiciously, "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?" Keith asked in response shifting his weight to balance more comfortably.

"The looks, you keep doing the look thing." Shiro said, taking a half step forward but then slumping back when his clone? Twin? whimpered in protest.

"Well," Hunk started as he kneeled next to Keith, leaving a respectful distance, "Before we brought you both back here we were doing something really important. And then something went wrong and you both got turned into the age you are now. So we were worried about how you were dealing with it. That's why we keep doing the look thing." Hunk explained, keeping his voice even and trying to stay on topic.

Shiro stared suspiciously up at Hunk, "We used to be big?"

"You were big. Then there was a big flash of light, then you were small." Keith replied causing Shiro's gaze to refocus on him.

"Everything alright down there, paladins? You came back very early - the other team hasn't reported in yet." Coran's voice came over intercom, causing Shiro to start and Takashi to sniffle dangerously like he was going to cry.

Keith reached over to grab his helmet from where he had left it and slid it back on so he could reply to Coran, "We had a…. slight difficulty. We're going to come up to the med bay so if you could meet us there it would be great."

"Alright Number 4, is it something I need to set up a pod for?" Coran's voice sounded far more concerned than it had moments ago.

Keith made an unsure noise back, "Maybe? But it's not urgent, so wait until we get up there, and you need to act not surprised okay? Also, if you could see if there's anything in our records about that planet's crystal caves that would be very helpful to know."

"Alright, I'll see what I can find. See you in a few doboshes." Coran replied, voice already distracted.

Keith took his helmet off and tucked it under his arm as he shook his hair out. He took a deep breath and looked Shiro in the eyes, "We want to check you over and make sure you and Takashi are okay. Can you follow me to the med bay?"

He waited patiently as Shiro and Takashi had a quick whispered discussion, Hunk hovering near his side. Eventually Shiro told them the results of the discussion while the younger pair held hands, "We'll go if you tell us where we are and what everything does." Takashi nodded in agreement.

Keith smiled, they could do that, "We're out in outer space far past our solar system near the planet XV002. XV002 was actually the planet we were on when we first picked you up. We're currently in the Castle of Lions, it's an ancient space ship piloted by allies of ours called Alteans."

"You heard one of them. The guy on the intercom, Coran, he's Altean." Hunk broke in.

Shiro's eyes had been getting bigger and bigger throughout the explanation until he couldn't contain himself, "We're in SPACE?! I love space, I always wanted to go to space. Isn't it great Takashi, we get to meet an _alien._ " Shiro babbled happily at his clone? Twin? as Keith and Hunk herded the pair into the lift and up to the med bay.

Shiro's ramblings ended with an awed "Whoa," as the small pair looked around the room. Keith smiled when Shiro finally noticed Coran standing near one of the beds and ran up to him babbling questions a mile a minute, Takashi following more slowly behind him. "Are you an alien? Can you do anything cool? What language do you speak? What planet do you come from? DId you make this place?"

Coran knelt down to as close to Shiro's height as he could manage, "Well little Earthling, I am Coran of Altea." Coran flicked the edges of his capelet proudly, "I can shapeshift and I'm the advisor of the Altean Royal Family. I speak Altean, amongst other common languages. My grandfather helped build the castle that we are currently residing in."

Shiro looked properly awed by that introduction while Takashi peered out suspiciously from behind him. Coran smiled, "Now, would it be alright if I picked you up to put you on the bed here to scan you? We just want to make sure you're alright, won't take more than a tick!"

Shiro gave him a short suspicious stare, assessing Coran's honesty, "Will it hurt?"

Coran shook his head, "Unless something has gone awfully wrong, the most you will feel is a slight tickle. Does that sound okay?"

Shiro thought about it again for a second, turning to confer with Takashi for a moment, before reporting the results of their quiet discussion, "I get to go first. That ways I can tell TK what it feels like."

Coran smiled, "Sounds good my boy. Now I'm going to pick you up in 3, 2, 1, go!" Coran lifted Shiro off the ground and spun around twice, getting appreciative giggles from Shiro, before placing him gently on the medical bed.

Shiro looked around the room from his new vantage point as Coran fiddled with the settings of the bed. Shiro swung his legs back and forth before pointing at Takashi and declaring, "I'm taller than you."

Takashi puffed out his cheeks and pouted for a solid few seconds before sticking his tongue out at Shiro and turning away. Keith could just barely hear the retort, "I don't talk to meanies in high places."

Keith desperately tried not to laugh and was thankfully saved by Coran announcing, "I'm going to start the scan now, I need you to lie down on the table," Shiro swung his legs up onto the bed and lay back, "Yes just like that. Now you might feel a slight tingle, but just hold still."

Shiro nodded seriously before making himself as still as possible. Coran patted Shiro's head then turned on the scan. As warned, all Shiro felt from the scan was a slight tingly feeling that started at his toes and moved up his body even his hair felt tingly by the end!

"Alright my boy, the scan is over! Now just let me check the results, hmmmm." Coran focused on the readouts while Shiro sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed.

"How'd it feel?" Takashi asked, having wandered over to the edge of the medical bed.

"Tingly, kinda like the sparky balls. The ones that make your hair stand up, is my hair standing up?" Shiro started patting his hair trying to see if the tingly feeling had made it floof up.

"You're fine, you're fine. How's it looking Coran?" Hunk gently ran a hand over Shiro's hair as he leaned over Coran's shoulder.

Shiro leaned up into Hunk's caress, closing his eyes to enjoy the sensation fully. Takashi pouted from his position on the floor because that looked soothing, and he wanted head rubs too.

Coran made some affirmative sounding strange noises while he was reading the results before replying, "Well, I have a theory, but I would like to compare." Coran turned around and kneeled down to not be intimidating, "Takashi, do you think I can run the same tests on you?"

Takashi blinked at Coran a couple times, then darted behind Keith's leg and looked up at Coran inquiringly. Coran put a hand over his heart, "I promise, same thing as what I did with Shiro. No surprises. On my honor as Royal Advisor."

Takashi mulled the answer over, one hand kneading Keith's leg as he clung. Keith seemed more amused than disturbed and reached down to pat Takashi on the head softly. When Takashi also pushed himself into pats, Keith started running his hand through Takashi's hair causing him to lean further into Keith's leg distractedly. When eventually Takashi nodded his consent Keith lifted Takashi and placed him on his hip while Hunk lifted Shiro off the bed while making airplane noises.

Keith carefully set Takashi down on the bed ruffling his hair a bunch before backing off so Coran could run the tests. Takashi pouted at being put down, but flopped back onto the bed impatiently. Coran chuckled and started the tests up again.

Like what Shiro said, Takashi could feel a tingly feeling spreading from his toes to the Tips of his Hair. However, in the middle of the scan he felt a sharp pain in his metal arm making him whine in pain, sending Coran scrambling back to his data analyzer. However after the brief stabbing feeling the rest of the scan went back to its normal tingly feeling.

As soon as the scan finished Keith swept Takashi up and placed him back on his hip before turning to Coran and asking, "What was that?"

"I'm not sure yet Number Four, I believe it indicates an anomalous chip or defect inside Takashi's arm. It should be solvable, but for now I need to check and see if the same things are off in Takashi's readings as Shiro's." Coran's fingers flew over the keys as he checked the read out of the scans, "Why don't you and Number Two take them to the kitchen and get a snack."

Keith gave Coran a suspicious stare before leading the way out of the medical room. Hunk, who hadn't put down Shiro during the process, followed after whispering about space cookies.

Half a varga later Coran walked into the kitchen to see Shiro and Takashi stirring a bowl of dough together while Hunk fiddled with pans and Keith seemed to be working on an icing. Keith noticed Coran's entrance first but went back to stirring without saying anything. Hunk turned next and smiled, "Ah, Coran. Figured it out then?"

Coran nodded, peaking into each of the mixing bowls left out on the counter getting another irritated glance, "Well, yes. The cavern used some sort of resonance between the two Shiros to reduce their ages. From what I've been able to figure, it seems keeping them happy and unstressed is the key to returning them to their original ages." Coran took off one of his gloves and dipped a finger into one of the bowl, "Hm, could use more arna root."

"And what of the anomaly in Takashi's reading?" Keith asked shortly, abandoning his bowl to go check on the younger pair.

Coran rocked back on his heels, "It does seem to be a problem in the arm itself, I suspect Hunk and Pidge could do more with it since they were the last ones to fiddle with Shiro's arm. I believe it can be left until after they return to their original age."

Hunk walked over to Shiro and Takashi and peered into their bowl with a discerning eye, "You guys think it's ready?" The pair exchanged a look and nodded, "Good! Now we just-" Hunk carefully poured the bowl into a pan and put it in the oven-like device. He turned back to Coran, "So we just need to keep them happy for a bit?"

Coran nodded, "You and Number Four have been doing a good job thus far, so it will take either a couple days or a large burst of the happiness hormones in your brains! That should turn them back."

Keith glanced over sharply, "A few days is dangerous in space. What do we do if the Galra attack?"

Coran twiddled his mustache, "Well, then hope you can make them happy fast! I'm going to go check the bridge to check in on the other team."

Keith rolled his eyes and looked back over to Hunk, "If I'm remembering from bio class right, happiness hormones are released by exercise, physical contact, and accomplishment, so hide and go seek in the lounge?"

"Hide and go seek? I love hide and go seek!" Shiro gushed, Takashi bouncing impatiently on the counter next of him.

Hunk smiled down at them, musing the younger pair's hair, "Well, then let's go. And after a round or two we can come back for space brownies. Now you have a super important decision, piggy back rides or no?"

"Piggyback!" was the unanimous decision.

Takashi fit on Keith's back well enough, Keith was slightly anxious at the strange grip he had to use, but Takashi's head resting on his shoulder blade assured him that he hadn't dropped the tiny form of his oldest friend. Shiro hadn't fit on Hunk's back as well, so they had compromised by letting Shiro sit on Hunk's shoulders instead. The trip to the lounge was accompanied by Shiro asking questions about space and Hunk trying to answer them all.

Upon reaching the lounge Takashi pointed out something that hadn't occurred to either of the older pair, "There's nothing to hide behind, it's just empty."

"Well," Hunk huffed and lifted Shiro up and off his shoulders and put him down on the inlaid couch, "We didn't really think this through very well. So, do you have any ideas?"

Keith turned around and let Takashi off his back next to Shiro, before flopping to the ground, "Well, Allura would suggest the training deck if she was here, but she's not so let's skip that."

"Keith? Not wanting to go to the training deck? Shock and awe, you must be sick." Hunk ribbed, ruffling Keith's hair.

Keith rolled his eyes, "I don't think the training robots are appropriate for children, I have more sense than that, thank you very much."

"Sometimes I wonder."

"We could color? Coloring sounds cool, do you have alien coloring books?" Shiro broke in, leaning forward and almost falling off the sofa.

Keith blinked, "I dunno, do we Hunk?"

Hunk hummed thoughtfully, "I think so, let me ask Coran. Be good for Keith for a moment." Hunk walked out of the lounge comm in hand to call Coran.

Takashi and Shiro both stared down at Keith, who smiled somewhat nervously at the pair who both looked suddenly mischievous.

Hunk walked back into the lounge to find Keith on his stomach with Takashi braiding Keith's hair into tiny plaits and Shiro was bouncing on Keith's back, rambling at light speed about aliens. Hunk couldn't stop himself from laughing until he cried as he stared at the trio. Shiro bounced one more time before bouncing off Keith, climbing over the sofa, and running over to Hunk excitedly, "Coloring? Alien coloring books?"

Hunk knelt down, a frown on his face, "I'm sorry buddy, apparently Alteans don't have coloring books. Apparently, since it rained fire, they decided that was a bad idea? I dunno, sorry buddy, back to the drawing board."

Shiro pouted, his lower lip sticking out so far Hunk could see its every wobble. Eventually Shiro turned around and stomped down to flop back on Keith's back. Takashi, disturbed by his twin's reaction, poked Keith's head until Keith turned to stare at him curiously, "What?"

Takashi patted Keith's cheek while trying to explain, "Nothing to do, so, so, so, could we, uhm, make a pillow fort?"

"With what, we can't take the cushions off." Shiro responded grumpily, his voice muffled by Keith's back.

"Well, this is a castle, we've got our rooms and then wherever they hide the spare bedding. The mice probably know where." Hunk supplied, considering the possible resources.

Shiro shot up looking excited again, "We can do it?!"

"Yup," Keith said, face still mushed on the ground, "whenever you get off me, we can go looking."

"Oops, sorry Keith. C'mon TK! Less'go, less'go!" Shiro bounced away from Keith, pulled up Takashi, and bounced back over to Hunk. The bouncing continued as he stared impatiently at Keith who groaned and pushed himself on his knees.

Keith grumbled under his breath as he approached the group again, eventually taking a twin in each hand to make sure they didn't run off. To Hunk he grumbled, "This keep them happy thing would be so much easier if we had a puppy."

Hunk nodded, "Too bad we only have a cow."

Several hours later, having taken a short break to have space brownies, they finally tromped back into the lounge each carrying a large load of blankets and pillows, each with a mouse on top. Keith waited for Chuchule to climb up onto his shoulder before unceremoniously dropping the entire pile of bedding he was holding on the ground. Hunk, carrying Platt on his head, dropped his pile and started mumbling under his breath about the best construction methods. Shiro and Takashi, carrying Platchu and Chulatt respectively, threw down the pillows they had been carrying and flopped into the piles while giggling.

Keith eventually worked up the energy to start the actual building, "Alright, alright, I may not be an expert, but I know we're going to need a base. So let's grab a couple thick blankets and just go from there."

"Kay! I say this blanket, its scratchy and stuff, so it should be on very bottom. Right, TK?" Shiro started directing their efforts, only really looking for input from his twin who would just nod in agreement.

Hunk and Keith let Shiro direct them with little complaint, Hunk occasionally intentionally messed up to make Takashi laugh when Shiro would correct him, "No, no, no. Not like _that._ Hunk, you gotta do it like this!" Hunk would try again, still incorrectly, leading Shiro to huff and take over himself before handing the construction back to Hunk with a, "See, Hunk, see! Like this. Is okay, you'll get it."

Eventually Shiro looked at the pile of blankets whose top had been somehow jury-rigged to the ceiling and declared, "Good! Now we go inside and tell stories."

"If you say so little boss. After you," Hunk opened up one of the outside flaps and let Shiro, Takashi, and Keith crawl in before sliding in himself. The fort was cozy, lined with pillows and blankets that Takashi promptly buried himself into while Shiro flopped next to his twin on top of the blankets. Keith sat cross legged at the back of the fort with a pillow in his lap that he leaned his elbows on. Hunk took stock of the room left and decided to sprawl himself out across the remaining space and putting his head on Keith's pillow, earning him a raised eye.

"Alright, you said you wanted a story. What type of story do you want Shiro?" Keith asked.

The twins conferred quietly for a second before Takashi responded, "We want a story about space. And a princess. And, and aliens!"

Keith nodded, thinking about the requirements, "Do you think our mission against the command ship counts?"

Hunk snorted, "Which one?"

"The first one, rescue Allura one." Keith replied tapping Hunk's forehead.

"Hm, I think so. It's got aliens, a princess, space, _and_ robots. Does that sound good to you?" Hunk turned to look at the twins, who both nodded excitedly, "Take it away Keith."

"Why do I have to tell it?" Keith asked, somehow managing to sound both whiny and exasperated.

"You picked it, you tell it. I also have no idea what you were doing for most of it." Hunk snarked back.

"Fine, fine." Keith shifted slightly to get more comfortable before starting the story, "Once, not that long ago, in order to save our leader the great Princess Allura allowed herself to be captured by our enemies, the evil Galra Empire."

Keith smiled at the intent looks of all three of the fort's other residents as he continued, "Upon retrieving our leader, he declared we must go save the princess and the others agreed, I spoke against it since if the battle went poorly there would be nothing to stop the evil empire form using our weapon and ruling the rest of known space."

Keith continued the tale with Hunk providing sound effects, as he reached the end he looked over at the twins and realized they were asleep. Keith smiled gently and figured it was probably a good idea to nap himself since Hunk had seemingly dozed off in his lap in the last five minutes as well. Keith shoved a couple pillows behind himself to lean on and dozed off feeling warm and content.

Keith faded back into awareness, feeling a repeated whoosh of air near his face and hearing delighted tiny giggles off to his right. When he finally mustered up the energy to open his eyes he became aware of a tail wagging inches in front of his face. Keith's brain trying to figure out if he was hallucinating, he knew he said a dog would be helpful but he never expected to actually find one out here in space. He heard Shiro wake up Takashi saying, "Look TK, look. A doggy! A space doggy!"

Keith looked over to see Lance and Pidge over at the entrance of the pillow fort, both smirking at Keith's bewildered face. Lance nudged Hunk with his foot waking him up as well, "I see we weren't the only ones who had an interesting adventure for a mission. We found a dog and you guys shrunk Shiro and multiplied him."

Hunk shot up from his spot in Keith's lap, getting a tail to the face on the way, "Lance buddy! You guys are back!" Hunk looked across at the dog next to him, "And you found a dog! What's his name?"

"Her name is Paracelsus." Pidge declared.

"-Maria. Pidge, we talked about this." Lance interrupted.

"You talked, I know how to name dogs better, so I ignored you." Pidge replied dismissively, reaching forward to pat the St. Bernard that was licking Takashi's face enthusiastically.

"Rude."

Shiro reached up to pat the dog, "Hello Para-Celsius. You are a good dog. Have you seen the mice? They aren't here anymore."

The dog barked and switched to licking Shiro as he started to giggle. Pidge face palmed, "Its Paracelsus, not Para-Celsius."

Takashi screwed up his face and tried to say the name too, "Para-Para-Paraselulusus."

Hunk snorted at the attempt, far too amused by the entire thing, "Why don't we just name her Para, its short, easy, and fast to say."

"Where's Allura?" Keith asked finally being aware enough to notice her absence.

Lance smiled a whoops-I-screwed-up smile, coughed into his hand, and looked around, "Well uh, when we rescued Para here. Something maaaay have gone wrong, but it wasn't my fault!" Lance defend himself from Hunk and Keith's combined skeptical look. Lance coughed again, "So uh, we may not have shaken our tail on our way back from the base as well as we could have so she and Coran are plotting out a wormhole jump."

Hunk raised an eyebrow and Keith rolled his eyes, "Really? You couldn't even manage that?"

Lance opened his mouth to reply but was cut off when the proximity alarm sounded. Both Takashi and Shiro both started, suddenly wrapped their arms around Para in search of comfort from the alarm. Keith took charge after a short glance at the twins, "Pidge, Lance, you're still in armor, you guys go out and distract them, Hunk and I will follow in a few minutes." The designated pair nodded and bolted over the sofa and headed to the hangar. Keith turned back to the twins, "I need you guys to trust us to keep you safe, and I need you to stay out of the way. You two stay here with Para, okay?"

Takashi nodded, obviously still spooked by the alarm, but Shiro shook his head, "No. I wanna help too. I wanna help protect Keith, and Hunk, and Takashi, and Coran, and Para and EVERYONE."

Hunk shook his head while crawling out of the fort, "I know you do buddy, and I get it, really I do. But you guys are so small like this and we can't send you guys out like this even if we wanted to. You've protected us a lot in the past, so please let us protect you until you can on your own again."

Shiro sniffed, tears in his eyes, "That's not fair. You said I used to be big, why can I only help if I'm big?"

Takashi leaned over and grabbed his twin in a hug, "We used to be big, and then the alarm wasn't as scary. But, but, now the alarm scares me. Because we don't know why it's going off, and, and!" Takashi paused trying to figure out how to say what he was trying to say, "Things aren't designed for people our size, we wouldn't be able to see, or reach anything. And that would put Keith, and Hunk, and everyone in danger. We gotta stay here."

Shiro sniffed and buried his face in Takashi's shoulder as Hunk and Keith left the room, Para whining and leaning into Shiro's side. Moments later there was a bright flash of light and suddenly Shiro was full grown clutching an identical copy of himself to his chest, and he could remember _everything._ Shiro leaned back and looked down at his twin who stared back just as confused, then looked at Para, before looking back at Takashi, "We'll figure it out later?"

Takashi nodded back, "Yeah, worry about it later. Right now we've got a team to help."

"Yeah!" Shiro nodded and grabbed Takashi by the hand and headed down to the hangar, the Black Lion would take them both, he could feel it in his heart.

On their way out the door both Shiro and Takashi paused for a second to pat Para, intoning in unison, "Who's a good dog? You are!"

* * *

This is my contribution to the Blessed and Possessed freezing available on tumblr!


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